Tag: Culture

Book Launch at Victoria Hall

John Draper

Newly elected Deputy Mayor Suzanne Séguin operates a publishing business with her husband Gerry Brown and Gerry has now written a book focusing on stories about the Cobourg boys who went to fight in World War I. These are stories of individuals told from the perspective of Arthur Gerson, a fictitious observer living at the time who was not eligible to fight himself. Inspired by the recently finished Armistice 18 project, Gerry has collected some human interest stories of these men. The book is called Memories from a Grey Wooden Box, Cobourg Stories from the Great War and it was launched today in the Lobby of Victoria Hall in front of the plaque dedicated to WWI soldiers from Cobourg who made the… Read complete articleBook Launch at Victoria Hall

DBIA announces 2019 Attractions

John Draper

The new DBIA Events & Communications Coordinator Jenna Leslie has now announced the 2019 Downtown events with a few changes.  Gone is the Busker Festival on the second Saturday in June but in its place is “Saturdays on Second Street” for four Saturdays in June. The Art Walk in August returns with the same format but loses the accompanying Pub crawl.  In its place is a new OctoBEER pub crawl in October.  Also returning are favourites including the February Pub Crawl (I guess we like our beer!), the Girls Night Out in May, the Food and Music Festival the weekend after the Waterfront Festival, the Sidewalk Sale on the August long weekend, the Harvest Festival late September and in November,… Read complete articleDBIA announces 2019 Attractions

Entertainment in Cobourg

John Draper

We are fortunate to have a good entertainment scene in Cobourg – but I wonder how many people realize just how extensive and diverse it is.  In the next several months, the Town will be immersed in developing a Cultural plan to point the way to the future in both entertainment and heritage but a starting point is knowing what we already have. There are not only multiple venues (Victoria Hall, The Loft, Trinity Church, Best Western, Cobourg Community Centre, Rainbow Cinemas) but also multiple organizations (see list and details below).  A big part of getting the word out has now gone with the demise of the daily paper so we must rely on posters, web sites and word of… Read complete articleEntertainment in Cobourg

Federal Government contributes to Armistice 18

John Draper

MP Kim Rudd today announced that Canada’s Commemorative Partnership Program that is operated by the Veteran’s Affairs Department is granting Cobourg $10,000 for its Armistice 18 program.  Kim commended Cobourg for its efforts although she did not mention the criticism leveled at the Federal Government in a recent McLeans article (see link below).  The same article also commended Cobourg:  “Cobourg, a town of 20,000 on Lake Ontario, is currently putting the rest of the country to shame in recognizing one of the most significant events in our nation’s past. In fact, it’s doing more to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War than the entire federal government.” But Kim did manage to get the money… Read complete articleFederal Government contributes to Armistice 18

Scheduling Problem with Cobourg’s Entertainment

John Draper

Cobourg does not lack for entertainment events but many events are scheduled for the same day and even the same time.  A good example was this past Sunday (November 4) when there were nine events by my count.  There were five live shows, two speakers, an Art Show and a walking tour.  But the following Sunday has very few events – although that may be because it’s Nov 11.  You’d think that some of the people organizing the shows would talk to each other.  Some years ago, the (now defunct) Arts Council of Northumberland tried to resolve the issue but gave up for lack of cooperation from enough of the arts organizations.  Below is a review of the events on… Read complete articleScheduling Problem with Cobourg’s Entertainment

Port Hope’s Capitol to be “restructured”

John Draper

Cobourg has Victoria Hall, the Loft Cinema, the Firehall theatre and Trinity Church as venues for theatre but Port Hope’s Capitol is known for its impressive productions and prolific entertainment events.  Five years ago, Antonio Sarmiento moved from the now dormant Park Theatre to the Capitol and did a great job in boosting the quality and annual income of productions there.  Antonio’s job was to be both the Managing Director and Artistic Director but the Capitol’s board had Soulpepper’s former executive director Leslie Lester do a “third-party assessment of its five-year strategic plan”.  As a result, they have apparently decided to split Antonio’s job into two:  Managing Director and Artistic Director.  With this decision, Antonio submitted his resignation effective December… Read complete articlePort Hope’s Capitol to be “restructured”

FSD Pharma Announces Restoration of Certo building

John Draper

At a Press Conference on Tuesday Oct 9, Thomas Fairfull, President and CEO of FSD Pharma had a ribbon cutting ceremony as he announced the start of work on “converting the historic Certo building … into a heritage museum and on-site dispensary. The Certo building is an important part of Cobourg’s history and the Company intends to preserve this unique building.”  But they are seemingly not interested in local media, only “national media with media credentials” were invited – so the photo below was taken later in the day.  Mayor Brocanier and Mayor Elect John Henderson were at the ribbon cutting but MP Kim Rudd was not although she was invited.  The Certo building on the old Kraft property was… Read complete articleFSD Pharma Announces Restoration of Certo building

Cultural Plan Update

John Draper

On June 25, 2018 Council decided to award a contract for $65,000 to consultant MDB Insight to prepare a Cultural Master Plan.  The first progress report on this was presented at Council’s meeting on October 1st. There were no decisions or recommendations – it was just about what had been done so far and where it was going.  Chris Elliott, Manager of Recreation and Culture, went through the objectives, community engagement (both input and messages to the community) and target audiences.  At least two public meetings and a survey are planned although there are no dates yet for those. The steering committee appears to be a good representation of Cobourg’s cultural community – hopefully they will point the consultant in the… Read complete articleCultural Plan Update